Dean Spade gave an passionate, informed and eloquent talk today about how activism must look for all of us doing social justice work. He encouraged us to put the most vulnerable people at the center of our work, to examine and analyze systems rather than accept "band-aid" approaches that do not deal with the roots of the problems we face and to build alternatives to systems that we have identified as harmful. He encouraged us to think about doing "survival work" as opposed to "charity work": survival work partners with people in need while meeting their needs and encourages collaboration to advocate for justice, while charity work blames the individual--it make take care of their short-term needs but in effect keep them dependent on a faulty system.